Henry deacon



H'. DEACON.

Manufacture of Chlorine.

Patented Dec. 29, 1868.

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@anni HENRY BEACON, OEAPPLE-TON Ho'Usn-APPLETON, ENGLAND. .l Lenmfmmlva 85,370, dans Decembarsaises, i

rnnowemm ns 'ran Mennonite Toer' omonima.

,Tq'a may 'comm Be it known that I5, HENRYV Deacon-of- Appleton' House,'Ap`pleton, in the county of Lancaster, England,-

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in f vthe Manufacture of Chlorine; andIA hereby declare the following to be aifull, clear, and exact 'description of the same'. l i My improvements'consist in the continuous production of chlorine, by passing a current of hydrochlor acid gas andatmospheric air over a mixture of oxide. of copper. andv oxide .of manganese, or of .such other metallic compoundsas are vhereafter lreferred toan'd which I ud will produce similar effects. v 4

The materials employed should be heated to such a r `temperaturev that the hydrochloric-acid gas maybe de-v the remaining gases, and utilized in any well-known manner.' In this process, oxygen is theelernent gequired tb unite with the hydrogen. of the hydrochloric acid, andto set free the chlorine; any available supply 'of oxygen may therefore be employed,.but. atmospheric airis, I consider, the cheapestsource.

In carrying out this process, one at least of thecom: 'pounds employed'must be of suchI a character that it will have the power of uniting with oxygen, either at the ordinary temperature or when heated, and when it is afterwards treatedwith hydrochloric acid, and heated either alone or in the presence of oxygen, it must possess the property of .decomposing such'acid, and 'of ultimately yielding chlorine as one of the results of vthe decomposition. f

By applying this test to the metallic'compound employed, the suitability' of the mixture will be practically ascertained without ditliculty.

My process. is 4essentially a continuous one, and it depends upon the power of one or more of the compounds :employed to cause the various reactinsxjn'st described.

The hydmchrone-aciu gas and an, which is by pref erence previously heated, are 'passed over the `heated metallic compounds, which absorb 'more-oy'less-of the hydrochloric-acid gas, and become saturated therewith," the saturation depending in part upon the temperature employed, and then so. long as the temperatureremains constant, no further change is noticeablein the com-4 pounds, out thehydmchloric-acid rasend the oxvrzen The Schedule -to than Letta; Patent and making-part of this snrs.

vof the air react on each other,'in thepresence ofthese compounds, and a continuous stream of hydrochloric -aci'd and air entering the apparatus employed, results in 'the .issue of a continuous stream of chlorine, and of the r'apor of water, mixed ofcourse with nitrogen from the air, unused oxygen, and. hydrochloric acid.

There are several compounds' which can be employed in carrying `ont my invention, .of which salts of manganese, lead, and copper aregusually the most available,

either alone or in combination, as maybe readily ascertained by applying the test' above referred to; l Of these compounds, I preferthe compounds of copper,. because of the high temperaturenecessary when using.t he 'compounds of manganese and lead, except when,v the compounds of manganese arev employed as a diluent in order to prevent the' fusing .and cakixng of other more fusible compounds. -Qf the compounds of copper, I. prefer the sulphate of lcopuen-which 'maybe employed'in the following manner: Into a strong solutio'n Aof sulphate of copper, I- dip, or immerse', or impregnate" common'clay, or tire-clay bricllrs, orpipes, which, after'saturation, I place-in retorts or iluesheated ex ternally, and through which-.is made to pass, by means of pressure or draught, .theheated mixture of hydro.- chloric-acid gas, (usually obtained fromthe manufacture of sulphates of sodaorjpotash from -i sl`reircl1lorides,)4 and atmospheric air, .by which means and arrangement -lar e' surfaces -of the compounds of' copper are' exposed to he action of the heated gases."

To obtain'a successful result', attention inustbe paid to "the temperature of the gases, which will vary'according to the materials employed, say'fr'om about 400 Fahrenheit to1800 or 850 Fahrenheit, If the temperature be raised to too high a'point, itwill be foundthat certain compounds of copper are volatilizedwhilst on the other hand,'if the temperature is allowed to fall too low, the .decomposition becomes less.v active, and ultimately the hydrochloric-acid gas is a orbed, until the compounds become saturated therew1th, and def i eompositionceases. The apparatus is also slow in recovering its activity atthe workiug'temperature, un-

less it be y'temporarily raised above it.- One advantagearising from the employment of compounds of copper, is thecomparatively low temperature at which they act, but for practical purposes they req'uire to 'be mixed with some other body or compounds to prevent their fusing together. Burnt clay will be found to be efficient for this purpose.

With compounds oi lead a full red heat must be' em` i ployed, and then by preference Yonly the chlorides and other soluble salts of lead, or compounds soluble in hydrochloric'acid,^`are to be mi'xd with burpt clay, .or

other similarporous substances, as those onlyia're suitable for the desired purpose.,V Indeed it maybe Astated that compounds of Alead'ar'e not so`advantageouslyv em ployed as are the compounds of copper, owing tothe increased temperature required, and the consequent diilicultles thereby involved, arising in part from volatility of the lead compoun'ds. With the compounds of manganese, a still highertemperature than that required for compounds of lead is necessary, and except-r in erection and repairs, but prevents more eiiectually' any escape' of the gases, or their dilution with the pro-- ducts of combustion fr om the smoke-fines.'

. 'Figure'l represents a side elevation. of the chlorine- ,ace, Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of th'e same, taken along the line i k in fig. 5; A Figure 3 is atrans'verse vertical section, taken along the line l m in-iig. 2; Figure 4 is a' horizontal section, taken through theupper smoke-flue; along the line c b,iig. 2;

Figure -is'a horizontal section through the gas-v decomposing lue, along the line c d, iig. 2;

Figure 6 is a horizontal section through the gas-'heatin `i1ue, 'taken along the line e j, iig.- and 4igure 7 is a horizontal section through the bottom smokeue,`t`aken along the line g )af-fig. 2.- In these figures- Y 'l isthe fire-place or furnace proper, and 2 2 are the smoke-fines, which are arranged in zigzag -Jashion beneath and above the gas-heating and decomposingnllues.

3 is the gas-heating'uue, cnstructedin azi ag forln, the gasentering -by an inlet-pipe, and after versing the4 entire length of iiue,passes into the zigzag decomposing-nues 4.- 4. These flues are filled with drain-pipes, (partly shown :in figs. 2, 3, and 5,) soaked in solution .of sulphate of copper,'or other decomposing-material, as described herein.

7 is the gas-outlet pipe leading' from the. decomposiug-ue to a condenser.

5 is a cast-iron 4chamber or casing, built inside the brick-work,l and enclosing the gas-heating and decomposing iues 3 and 4, whereby an escape or loss of gasmay be 'dispensed with, however, if desired. Y

Figure 8 of the drawings representsthe combination of a chlorine-furna, such asdescribed above, with a close salt-cake or sulphzfite-of-soda,furnacer condenserfand bleaching-powder chamber. In this figure- 6 representsthe closed. salt-cake pot or furnace.

7, the salt-cakeloven or-roaster.

8, the chlorine-furnace, of the same or similar'construction to that hereinbefore described and illustrated, the supply ofhydrochloiic-acid gas being obtained from the salt-cake furnace or pot 6, by a pipe, 9', for that purpose, as shown. Y

9 9 are the cooling-pipes, leading to the bottom Yof the condensing-tower 10.

From the top of this tower, a pipe lea'ds into a bleaching-powder chamber, 1 1, which communicates by a short pipe with the chimney 12.

A furnace, of the size given, will produce suicient chlorinetoI makefabout three tons o f bleachin -powder per twentyffour hours, with'the experience w ich is at present possessed, but I believe, with further experience, this quantity will be material-ly increased.

through leakage is entiielyprevented. The casing This arrangement gives a current of chlorine vary-v in in quantity, according to the evolution of hydro- Vch uric-acid gas from the salt-cake furnace, which varies at each charge, being strong at the commencement and feeble at the end.

Where a uniform current o f chlorine is required,

several salt-cake furnaces may bear-ranged to one.

chlorine-furnaca'and charged in rotation, one furnace- 'charge working off as another is beginning, and so on,

o1' 'Where a'smaller but regular' current of chlorine is required, I preferto use an aqueous solution of hydrochlorie acid, (as-strougas convenient,) as the source of hydrochloric-acid gas).` I evaporate this aqueous solution in any convenient manner, running into the evaoratingapparatus. a constant stream of the aqueous acid, to

maintain aconstant stream ofacid-vapo'r. This is mixed with the necessary quantity of air, and thenpassed through the chlorine-furnace.

When using aqueous hydrochloric acid, more vapor of water, in proportion to the chlorine, passes through the apparatus, which necessitatesfprovision in the sizeand proportion of .the various parts Vof the. apparatus, which will bel evident to piactical meu.

l The'aijueous hydrochloric acid, as obtained from the ordinary salt-cake? process', is t for use in this way, and by its^use th'two .processes of salt-cake and chlorine making can be separately and simultaneously conducted.

lewin bemesten@ I prefer to heat the hydra! chlorlic-ajcid gas and the atmospheric air, before passing them into the 4decomposing-portion of the apparatus; The arrangement given, has the advantages of compactness,'and -keeps the intense heat of the fire om the' compounds of copper, but the'appamtus' may be varied to a great extent, and in particular the primary heating of the gases may be ifected'in one apparatus, and the decomposition in another, and it must beb'orne in mindthat the decomposition itself is attended with evolution of heat, andtherefore with a properly-regulatedsupply of .heated hydochloric-acid gas and air, and suitably .protected decomposing-apparatus, the latter will require .but little or no external application of heat,

but thcv working-temperature can be maintained by due attention to the temperature of 'the current of passing into the decomposing-apparatus.

-'Various methods by which the waste heatof the salt-cakeY furnaces maybe employed for heating these gases, will suggest 'themselves to practical men. Hydrochloric-acid gas passed'through the apparatus, must` be mixed with so much air as will give rather more than one equivalent of oxygen for every two equivalents of hydrogen contained in the hydrochloiic-aoid gas.' It is not necessary to dry the air previously, but

its carbonio-'acid gas can be previously removed, if 'desired, by use of lime or of alkaline solutions, as is well understood. l -The gases issuing from the furnaces will consist of chlorine, of the nitrogen of the air, of any surplus or uncombined oxygen, the. vapor ofwater, undecomposed hydrochloric-acid gas, and any other gases, either pies-` ent in thear or originally mixed with the hydrochloric'- acid "gas,por'whicl1 may have leaked intcthe apparatus; in other words, the chlornewill he largelydiluted, and .probably mixed o with more or 'less carbonio-acid and other` gases. A

- Thehydrochloric-acid gas .and vapor of water may be removed from the mixture bycondensati'on and cooling alone, and' the subsequent use of a scrubber, orof a 'column of dry coke', te removewater" mechanically. carried with the 'ouirent,is usuallysuiicient. Otherwise the condensation can be completed by the use ofa dilute solution o f hydrochloric acid, which absorbs mere traces of chlorine, but usually enoughbydrochloric acid exists in the gases to condense in the water, and expel the chlorine therefrom, and then water alone is necessary. Y The chlorine present is lett available for all purposes not interfered with hy its dilution with the gases before named, as, for example, for the manufacture of bleaching-powder, especially when not required of the highest strengths, and also for the manufacture of other products, such; as chlorate of potash. -Having now'describcd my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the use of chloride '0f copper for the production of chlorine from hydrochloric` acid and heated vair for the product-ion of chlorine; but

What I claim as my invention, is- 1. The continuous 'produc-tion of chlorine, by passing a current of hydrochloric-amid gas and atmospheric air, by preference in a heated condition, over heated conipounds, such *as those hereinbefore referred to, which,

.or one of the elements of which must have. the power of absorbing oxygen, either before being heated or when heated, and must possess, when subsequently treated with hydrochloric acid, and heated, either alone or 1n the presence of oxygen, the power of decomposing such acid, and of ultimately yielding chlorine as one of the results of the decomposition. y

2.- The continuous production of chlorine,-by-pass ing, as above'described, a' current of hydrochloric-acid gas and atmospheric air, by preference in a heated condition, over heated subsmnces, porous or otherwise, which are impregnated or miied with metallic compounds, such as are hereiubeibre mentioned and dr scribed.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing wibnesses.

Witnesses:

JOHN GHALER,

OfAlnon Foundry, Liverpool, Engineer. j

HENRY BEACON'. 

